The biggest mobile games industry trends of 2024

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It’s that time of year where we (and everyone else) take a retrospective look back at the big trends that have shaped 2024. Much like Christmas, for some these get earlier every year.

We’ve already published our analysis of the top grossing mobile games of 2024, as well as a deep dive into the most successful new titles that launched this year, which have been dominated by titles from Asia.

Below, we’ve rounded up some of the key trends that shaped the mobile games industry 2024.

Layoffs

It’s been another tough year for the games industry and wider tech sector at large, with thousands facing layoffs. The mobile games market is back to growth, and investment is slowly creeping back with big fund raises from the likes of Play Ventures and Vgames. But clearly not everyone is feeling this slow clamber back to life.

Even today, we covered the news that Vancouver-based studio Hothead Games has closed its doors after 18 years, a company that self-described itself as one of Canada’s “biggest indie mobile games studios”.

Web shops

Direct-to-consumer strategies weren’t exactly a secret at the start of the year – companies like Playtika have successfully been moving revenue to their web shops for a while, evading Apple and Google’s highly contested 30% revenue cut. (Or whatever it is on the App Store in Europe now, shrug).

At PGC London 2024, it felt like, amid regulatory changes and scrutiny, DTC had really gained industry-wide traction, with a variety of new startups in the space ready to power payments.

It’s been a theme of conferences throughout the year, too. We covered it in our Gamescom and Devcom takeaways – there was no running away from Xsolla in Cologne. They will find you, etc. It was the same at PGC San Francisco and Helsinki too, with experts sharing their tips.

It’s a movement that reflects Apple and Google’s unwillingness to relent, forcing developers and publishers away.

Regulatory changes

Speaking of regulatory changes and direct to consumer strategies, it’s been nine months since the Digital Markets Act came into effect across the European Union, and though in some ways it may feel like little has changed, in reality there are signs that the wheels are in motion.

Apple has fought tooth and nail to maintain the status quo, introducing an increasing number of insane changes and charges to its policies. But despite all of it, a fine is incoming, and it should be significant.

On the other side of the pond, Epic’s war has borne some fruit, winning a case against Google that labelled the tech giant’s Play store as an illegal monopoly. Google recently won a temporary reprieve in its legal showdown, and Epic has previously alleged malicious compliance, but the cracks in the 30% revenue share and effective walled gardens are getting bigger.

Rewarded UA

Apple’s privacy changes shook the very foundations of an industry built on user acquisition, pushing the mobile games sector into decline – compounded by macroeconomic factors – and sending hypercasual into cardiac arrest.

One solution for UA that has emerged this year is that of rewarded play. Powered by companies like Almedia, Gamelight, Mistplay and various others, players download games, are given tasks to complete, and then earn rewards like real money and store vouchers.

We spoke with Almedia CEO Moritz Holländer about the trend earlier this year. He explained how it works: Almedia runs its own UA campaigns for its Freecash platform, and is then able to build up its own data and send players to games that may be most relevant to them.

It’s an interesting way to solve one of the industry’s biggest problems post-IDFA changes – how to find relevant players most likely to play, enjoy your game, and ultimately pay.

Hybridcasual

Hybridcasual is a term to describe how Habby made Archero into a hit, which it did by using hypercasual sensibilities and adding a simple progression layer and IAPs to the mix. That was in 2019 and no one else replicated it to the same scale.

Years later, Apple’s privacy changes sparked panic in the hypercasual world. Now its business model was shattered, what now? Hybridcasual, of course!

And yet, the shift has worked for a number of the top hypercasual publishers. We ranked Voodoo 10th in the Top 50 Mobile Game Makers 2024 list for its successful pivot to hybridcasual. It’s been followed by the likes of Homa, SayGames and Kwalee.

We’ll wait to see the long-term effects, but so far, this shift is working. Meanwhile, Habby continues to smash it with Archero 2, which has already picked up $23.2 million in gross revenue from player spending a month after release, according to AppMagic estimates.

AI

AI is a big trend that feels like it’s been bubbling under the surface, but already having ramifications. There’s been lots of talk and lots of startups, somewhat reminiscent of Web3 and the metaverse hype. But generative AI tech appears, right now, to have more practical use.

AppLovin has called out AI for UA as one of its secret weapons in the company’s dramatic rise this year, while marketers are already harnessing the tech. Kwalee VP of mobile publishing John Wright has predicted that in 2025, we’ll see the first game where over 50% of its foundation is generated by AI, with a human team then polishing it to completion.

In the public domain, perhaps the biggest AI story of the year in games has been the SAG-AFTRA strike, with members of the union strike over AI protections for performers. The fact that publishers haven’t relented over these demands as yet is telling.

Cross-platform

Cross-platform gaming continues to grow. We spoke with a number of developers earlier this year, with a number stating they’re factoring in new platforms. Meeting players where they are, on any device, has been an increasingly industry trend for a while now. Xbox may or may not be doubling down on this at some point in the future.

In the last month, we’ve seen titles like Delta Force (releasing globally on mobile in January) and Infinity Nikki launch as cross-platform games, while HoYoverse has made a habit out of it with Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero.

For a lot of mobile games, it doesn’t make sense. But as developers look to escape the clutches of Apple and Google, as well as extend the reach of their games as far as possible, cross-platform has become increasingly prominent.

HTML5, web and instant games

Picking up from escaping the clutches of Apple and Google, web gaming and HTML5 have become a key industry trend over the past year.

Telegram has risen as one of the year’s hot new games platforms. It has a user base of approximately 950 million, while The Open Network (TON) Foundation’s games lead Inal Kardan has previously claimed around 20% of those users are playing at least one game each month.

Speaking to our sister-site BlockchainGamer.biz, Gamee chairman Bozena Rezab previously had 300,000 daily active users playing its mini-games. The new version of Telegram has seen its audience grow to 55 million users. The report warns that much of this activity could be driven by bots, however.

Another popular messaging app, WeChat, saw its Minigames generate $2.3 billion in revenue during the first half of 2024 in China alone. Meanwhile, Facebook Instant Games is back!

At Games First Helsinki in October, former EA CEO and founder Trip Hawkins said he believed browser gaming offers a “great opportunity” for developers.

“I believe browser crossplay, with HTML5 and webGL, I think that’s one of the next waves,” said Hawkins. “New hills to go after, not really crowded. Right now you can’t really think of a leading company that’s doing that, period.”

Bonus trends we’ve discussed this year:

Everything is a games platform
Are publishers leaving games behind?
Are new hits reshaping the top grossing mobile games charts?
Are developers burnt out on mobile?

Check out our Week in Mobile Games podcast on games industry trends in 2024 right here.